"When Referrals go wrong"

I have always found medical treatment at FGH to be excellent but when referrals go wrong it can be difficult to find help.

I was referred by my GP to ENT for tests. At my appointment after the tests the consultant confirmed I had a serious problem and I would be given a follow up appointment via Clinical Investigations very shortly. After 10 weeks waiting I was concerned I might have been forgotten and tried to ring ENT. The switchboard operator could not raise anyone in ENT and so put me through to Appointments. The Appointments lady was very helpful and read out my recent notes which said I had been “Discharged with no further appointment necessary” but she also noted that there had been no follow up letter to my GP. If this was wrong she suggested I might need to go back to my GP for a new referral but she was eventually able to put me through to the ENT Nursing Station. The lady there was unable to help but promised that someone would ring me back before lunch. This didn’t happen so I tried again to contact ENT (again via Appointments) and was able to speak to someone this time. She told me I needed to talk to Clinical Investigations and transferred me. Again no reply there but I was able to leave a message on their answering machine. Finally I had a call from a gentleman in Clinical Investigations and he apologised saying there had been a serious mistake and I should not have been discharged. He was able to offer an immediate new appointment and my treatment since has been excellent.

I am sure I should not have had to do all the ringing round to get my treatment back on track but am unclear what I should have done.